The Eclipse

"Wait... I think I left my car keys in the cavern..."

28

MAR/13

The heroes of the Eclipse decided not to tempt fate and teleport to a random location. Instead, they moved up the north tunnel as a unit to face the Guardian they hear coming from that direction. Working together, the team quickly reduced the Guardian to scrap metal. Continuing up the tunnel, they reach the end only to discover an elevator.

The heroes decided not to utilize the elevator and instead race back south to encounter the Guardian that they heard coming from the other direction – meeting it in the central cavern. Again, the battle was short and the Guardian was dismantled.

Following the battle, the members of the Eclipse split their efforts in the main cavern:

Photon Wave examined the computer systems and discovered that they are far more advanced in design than anything he had ever seen before

The Valkyrie studied the medical records and readouts on the main set of consoles, but she was unable to determine the nature of the pink mist or the effects that the machine had on the heroes

The Messenger and Flower Power scout out the remaining two tunnels. The tunnel to the northeast leads into another large (but empty) cavern. The river flowing through the cave enters from underneath a wall in this tunnel. The cavern to the south ends in another elevator.

After 5 minutes, the heroes decided that they had stayed in this area for too long – especially when they heard the heaving footsteps of more approaching Guardians coming from the North and South. The group decided to assault the group in the south tunnel so that they did not have to defeat both groups at once. They quickly ran down the tunnel and quickly turned 4 additional Guardians into spare parts.

Continuing down the south tunnel, they entered the elevator (noticed that there are only 2 floors being serviced) and began the lengthy ascent from the cavern. The doors opened into another cave tunnel, but a short walk led them to a hillside cave entrance. From their position on the hill, the heroes could see a road leading from the cave mouth to a small cluster of buildings below. They could also smell the salt of the ocean which was visible to their left.

Disappointed at not finding the next level of the complex (where they hoped that their equipment was taken to), the group decided to reenter the cave and work their way to the other elevator. They approached the main cavern warily – not wanting to waste additional energy battling the other group of Guardians. The group decided to allow the Messenger to fly the rest of the heroes in small groups over the top of the cavernous ceiling to the elevator in the hopes that the Guardians would not notice them.

The plan worked to an extent… on his first trip over (carrying Photon Wave and the Valkyrie), he successfully avoided detection by the 4 Guardians now guarding the north tunnel. However – he was not fortunate enough to avoid the notice of the three villains that had teleported to the pad. The Greek Hero was quickly attacked by Bounceback, Magnus, and Old Sparky.

Turning tail quickly, the Messenger carried his passengers back to the rest of the group at the elevator where they quickly piled in and began the long ascent to the surface. The escape was short-lived however as about 13 seconds into the ascent, the elevator stopped and began moving down again.

The doors opened and the Eclipse saw the three villains. Old Sparky had his hand on the elevator’s call box – apparently using his electrical powers to control the elevator. Bounceback was farther down the hall preparing to pepper the heroes with power blasts, and Magnus was in flight, barreling down the hall at top speed towards the group.

White Fist, Iron Wind, and the Messenger quickly engaged Bounceback in hand to hand combat. Recognizing the threat that White Fist’s speed and skill represent, the villain lost no time in pulverizing the hero into unconsciousness with his power blast.

Old Sparky was beset by Photon Wave, Still Hammer, and the Valkyrie suffering large amounts of damage to his armored suit. He was then pinned to the floor by the Valkyrie’s gravity control power. With Sparky pinned, the heroes looked to team up on another villain when Sparky disappeared – only to reappear farther down the hall. The group continued to trade blows with the electrical villain until in desperation, Sparky teleported away before being defeated.

Magnus attacked Flower Power relentlessly – calling her a thief and saying that she would ‘never take it away from him!’ The pair seemed evenly matched until the heroine left herself open for an easy blow from the powerful villain and she was knocked unconscious. In his rage, Magnus continued to attack Flower Power’s prone form – intent on killing her. After his first blow landed, he stiffened up like a board and flew straight up into the ceiling at maximum speed - stunned and dazed, he attempted to fly into Still Hammer, but badly misjudged his aim and slammed directly into the floor of the cavern, knocking him out.

The remaining heroes then were able to concentrate their attacks on the difficult to hit Bounceback, and after a protracted battle were finally able to knock the slippery villain out (although not before Photon Wave discovered the reason for his name – after striking him with a laser beam, the attack bounced off of the villain and struck the surprised hero!)

After breathing a sigh of relief, the members of the Eclipse were surprised to discover that Flower Power had regenerated enough to regain consciousness and to strip the costume off of Magnus. She stood before them, confidently clad in Magnus’ costume and refused to remove it. Rather than press the issue at that moment, the heroes decided to indulge her.

Realizing that they needed to find a place to rest up, the Eclipse decided to go back up the south elevator and try to rest in the small cluster of buildings below. As they prepared to exit the cave, Flower Power pointed out several security cameras that they had not noticed previously and suggested that the group deal with them before exiting the cave.

They made their way down to the buildings, which they discovered to be a series of storage building with spare parts for the Guardians, robotic technicians and other technological devices. The Messenger suggested that he fly the two captives back to MEDUSA headquarters (“It should only take a few minutes!”) when Flower Power informed him that he would be attacked by the defense missiles. She also insisted that their equipment is probably in the mansion. When pressed to say what mansion she was referring to, the Heroine responded that she is sure Doctor Apocalypse would be the type to have a mansion and that is where he is probably holding their gear.